Senator John Mulroe is a co-sponsor of legislation that expands the qualifying factors for police officers' line-of-duty death compensation to include suicide, in some cases.

The bill provides that if a mental health professional deems an officer’s self-inflicted injuries were sustained as a direct result of the officer’s active duty service, the officer’s death will be considered a line-of-duty occurrence and the officer’s surviving family will be eligible for line-of-duty death benefits.

“These men and women go to work every day unsure whether or not they will come home,” Sen. Mulroe said. “The daily stress they endure can weigh heavily on them.”

Police officers have the highest incidence of suicide of any profession. Their incidence of depression and similar mental and emotional disorders is disproportionately high compared to other working professionals.

“Suicide is something that, unfortunately, plagues police departments across the state of Illinois,” said Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President, Michael Shields. “This is something that should have been included initially when the line-of-duty death benefit became law and this was our way of following through to ensure that families that have already suffered such a devastating loss aren’t left penniless.”

The Senate passed the bill April 11 without opposition. It now heads to the House for further action.

Senator John Mulroe (D-10th) has passed his plan to increase food safety training for restaurant workers and other food handlers out of the Public Health Committee on a 7-0-2 vote.

Current law only requires one restaurant worker per shift be licensed in food handling and sanitation. Mulroe’s proposed legislation requires all food handlers to become certified in basic food handling, sanitation and safety. All food handling employees would be required to complete the instruction within 30 days of hire. The classes would educate all food handlers on foodborne illness, food safety, preventing contamination and proper procedures for cleaning and sanitizing kitchen equipment.

“Making sure that all of our food service professionals are properly and consistently certified will ensure safer restaurant conditions for workers and patrons,” Sen. Mulroe said.

Additionally, the law will bring continuity to Illinois’ food and beverage industry by deeming the Department of Public Health the only agency able to perform food handling, sanitation and training certification and exams.

For a number of years, the stakeholders in Illinois' food safety process have been meeting with the Department of Public Health to discuss and research methods to reform and improve the process for the Food Service Sanitation Manager Certification and safe food handling. Mulroe’s legislation will bring Illinois law in line with virtually all other states.

“Consistency in certification is highly important,” Sen. Mulroe said. “Every certificate holder should be learning the same things and should be tested on the same things. This ensures a safer environment for everyone.”

If the legislation becomes law, the changes will not take effect until 7/01/2016.

This week is Youth Violence Prevention week, and with that in mind, State Senator John Mulroe (D-10) is focusing some of his legislative efforts on making our state safer for Illinois youth.

Senate Bill 1399 removes the statute of limitations for actions based on childhood sexual abuse. Under current law, the statute of limitations to report childhood sexual abuse is 20 years from the date the victim recalls the abuse. The bill, on which Senator Mulroe is a co-sponsor, would remove the statute of limitations altogether, allowing a person to bring an action based on childhood sexual abuse at any time.

“As we have seen in many cases, people are often well into their adult lives before they are psychologically capable of coming forward about abuse inflicted on them as children,” Sen. Mulroe said. “By then, the timetable may have run out, making it impossible to prosecute their perpetrator.”

Schools will become safer places for children with the implementation of another child-focused piece of legislation. Mulroe is also sponsoring an anti-bullying bill which would allow school social workers to establish and deliver anti-bullying programs. The bill also gives school social workers authority to develop and implement bullying intervention plans, as well as long-term prevention programs.

“We want our children to feel safe at school, so their primary focus can be their education,” Sen. Mulroe said. “Beginning bullying awareness and prevention in our schools at an early age, and allowing certified specialists who already work there to implement programs to combat bully violence will make our schools safer, more positive environments for all students.”